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June 04, 2007
First Things First
By Keith Ott
To: Bill France Jr., “Fair Winds and Following Seas.” I’ll leave it at that. More informed, more eloquent people, than I, will provide plenty of stories and anecdotes. Of that, I am sure. Rest well. And, say hi to Sr., if ya would.
Back to business:
“Competition Cautions” are another thing NASCAR needs to rework. First, why have “Competition Cautions” at all? These are allegedly the best drivers in NASCAR…Correct? The track and tires are the same for all the drivers…Correct? If the best drivers in the game can’t tell they have a bad tire…Well, oop’s, that’s your bad. Forty-three cars aren’t going to blow a tire on the same lap. Let the ones abusing their tires setup the cautions. BUT, STOP THROWING CAUTIONS THAT INFLUENCE THE EVENT!
My corrections are:
1) If you call it, make it mandatory…There is no staying out. And, no lap points.
2) There are no changes of position once the flag waves. Not on the track; not in the pits. It wasn’t a racing issue that caused the flag. Why should anyone benefit because of you? Besides making pit road dangerous for the crews, it’s also unfair for the teams who don’t have million dollar pit crews. Make it a slow safe stop for everyone. You did call it for safety, right?
The COT (Or, as I call it, “The CON” (car of now)) seemed a bit lacking today. Testing being cancelled at Dover, earlier in the year, may have had a role in this. My jury is still out on it. But, one thing I hate is the wing…Can’t they paint it? It looks like everyone in the trailer park got the new J.C. Whitney catalogue and ordered the same wing. Lame, very lame.
Kurt Busch threatening Stewart would have been funny except that he endangered crewmen. I think it’s about 50/50 on the incident. Coulda, Shoulda, Didn’t…on both sides. But, for both fellows, heated rivalries only really matter when you manage to keep the cars on the track fighting for the win.
LOL, I’m not sure Mikey wouldn’t have rather been at home today.
Speaking of Waltrip. The elder one, that is. YeeHaa, no more Boogity, until next February. That ringtone really pushed my boogity button.
What are your thoughts?
June 4, 2007 | Permalink
Comments
(COT) Car of today! Boogity, boogity, boogity.
My seats at Dover are between turn 3 and 4. I found the missing black devise last week. Today as Mikey past by my seat I flashed him the black devise and he hit the wall right in front of me. I got a BIG laung out of that.
Posted by: Diane Sadler | Jun 4, 2007 6:40:05 PM
Keith, I'm saddened by the loss of "Billy" France, as Earnhardt called him. Today brings to mind the sunny day at Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma, June 7, 1992, when "Big Bill" France's death was reported.
We NASCAR lovers all complain a lot about this and that, especially in this forum, but today is a good day to stop and just think about what Bill and Billy France, father and son, have built. Perfect? Nope. But pretty amazing, anyway.
Billy would approve of your "back to business" mentality, so here goes:
First thing we have to do is change the name of the mandatory yellow flags that are thrown because of fear of excessive tire wear or other such safety concerns. These are interruptions of competition, so to call them "competition cautions" is a misnomer.
Second, when we do throw the yellow merely to spice up the action (see: Debris, phantom), in the sense that it tightens the contest for the victory, THAT'S a competition caution. My own vote would be that we not do that at all, going along with your observation about influencing the outcome of the event.
Loved the J.C. Whitney reference.
Posted by: David Green | Jun 4, 2007 6:47:53 PM
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